New to 40K/Space Marines

I already play warhammer fantasy so I know a little bit about the game. Plus friends of mine who play told me some differences between the two, so I'm not completely clueless.

So I would like to start death company from blood angels. And I have a few questions.

1) Each chapter has a different color scheme. Since death company is a part of blood angels do they use the blood angels painted theme or their own?

2)I read in another post that death company often have flashbacks of their old leader being killed. So fluffwise, are they looked as as being insane or psychos but still extremely loyal to the emperor? Because fluffwise that what I wouldnt mind playing...

3)I like to have some shooting, but mostly insane close combat units(insane as in fluff wise but also stats wise a little too). What type of shooting can I take and is it good or just decent?

4) I currently have a box of space marines, a box of scouts with sniper rifles, and a librarian (along with the codex)...can any of these be used for the death company, or are they their own models that I have to purchase?

5) Based on what I have in question 4, what more else should I take to make my army good/great as a starter to 40K

Please, if you use any abbreviations or anything like LR(Land raider for example) please put what they stand for in paranthases as I am new to 40K and will surely be confused by what you're trying to say.

The Deathwing have bone-coloured tactical dreadnought armour with a red chapter badge on the shoulder. The Ravenwing have black armour and a unique company badge on both their shoulder guards and vehicles.

I already play warhammer fantasy so I know a little bit about the game. Plus friends of mine who play told me some differences between the two, so I'm not completely clueless.

So I would like to start death company from blood angels. And I have a few questions.

You can't do just a death company army i'm afraid, you can include a death company marine in your army per each unit you have in your army (only certain units). As you said you wanted to do a death company army which i'm afraid you can't, i assume you don't have th codex, well, i have some good news for you in that its FREE! and can be downloaded from GW Online : Warhammer 40,000 : Space Marines : Codex: Blood Angels

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

1) Each chapter has a different color scheme. Since death company is a part of blood angels do they use the blood angels painted theme or their own?

The death company have black armour, as they are consumed by the black rage of seeing the memories of Sanguinius' battle with Horus. Not sure if this is why they paint it black but never the less they are black

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

2)I read in another post that death company often have flashbacks of their old leader being killed. So fluffwise, are they looked as as being insane or psychos but still extremely loyal to the emperor? Because fluffwise that what I wouldnt mind playing...

"To others a Space Marine overcome by the Black Rage appears half mad with fury, he is unable to distinguish past from present and does not recognise his comrades." - they can be considered insane and psychotic!

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

3)I like to have some shooting, but mostly insane close combat units(insane as in fluff wise but also stats wise a little too). What type of shooting can I take and is it good or just decent?

Well as you are going to have to do a Blood Angels army and not a pure death company army, you have access to lots of BS4 goodness. Dreadnoughts can be very shooty although you may want to take the Furioso beast of a dread! You've still got access to devastator squads, land raiders, predators, vindicator and exclusive access to the Baal Predator, which is a twin-linked assault cannon variant of the normal predator.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

4) I currently have a box of space marines, a box of scouts with sniper rifles, and a librarian (along with the codex)...can any of these be used for the death company, or are they their own models that I have to purchase?

The death company are their own models, but you will be able to use all of the models you have bought, although the scouts take up an elite choice in the Blood Angels list which is not something i like, as this could be used better with a dreadnought or terminator squad, but in a starting force upto about 1000 points they will fit in fine imo.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

5) Based on what I have in question 4, what more else should I take to make my army good/great as a starter to 40K

For a blood angels force i would get:
More tactical marines
Assault sqauds
A chaplain with jump pack
Devastator squad

Adding these to what you have would already have would give you a decent core of infantry, and depending how large the units were and how much wargear you give them could be around a 1000 points. My starter tip for you is to be careful with vehicles, in a force you should either have none at all, or lots so you can soak up your opponents firepower.

I hope this helps, and after you've downloaded the codex and wrote a list send me a PM, and i will be happy to give you some help with your list.

Well, Dan has already answered most questions, so these here additional remarks of mine.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

1) Each chapter has a different color scheme. Since death company is a part of blood angels do they use the blood angels painted theme or their own?

Their armor is black with red crosses. Over at the Lexicanum, someone has also painted two versions of Captain Tycho, one showing him Death Company armor and the golden one when he did "normal duty". I bought the model twice to do the same as I want to go for a fluff army that is still well playable. As far as I can see, Tycho is the only model it makes sense to add to your "official" Death Company models.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

2)I read in another post that death company often have flashbacks of their old leader being killed. So fluffwise, are they looked as as being insane or psychos but still extremely loyal to the emperor? Because fluffwise that what I wouldnt mind playing...

Yes, they suffer from flashbacks of the scene when their Primarch Sanguinius battled the traitor Horus. According to legend, Sanguinius' sacrifice allowed the Emperor later to kill the traitor. I suggest you get one of the older Blood Angels Codex as they are full of background stories (unlike the current free PDF). They can be cheaply bought on ebay.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

3)I like to have some shooting, but mostly insane close combat units(insane as in fluff wise but also stats wise a little too). What type of shooting can I take and is it good or just decent?

If you want close combat, you must have the Death Company and assault squads with jump packs. I have glued magnets onto my Death Company models so they can have either a standard backpack or a jump pack quickly attached to them. If my Death Company leaves the house without jump packs, they ride a Rhino instead.

For supporting firepower I rely on Devastator Squads with heavy bolters against infantry and missile launchers/lascannons against vehicles. Furthermore, I use attack bikes with heavy melters for tank hunting. All that's rounded off with Tornado Landspeeders carrying an assault canon each.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

4) I currently have a box of space marines, a box of scouts with sniper rifles, and a librarian (along with the codex)...can any of these be used for the death company, or are they their own models that I have to purchase?

As explained repeatedly, the Death Company has separate models; all equipped with bolt pistols and chainswords.

Scouts are great in the upcoming 5th edition of Warhammer 40K. However, as Scouts occupy an elite slot in a Blood Angel army, you should think twice if you want to field them (as Dan already explained). Furthermore, they don't count toward the Death Company size, so you want to field squad types that give you "free" Death Company members.

Originally Posted by | Carnage |

5) Based on what I have in question 4, what more else should I take to make my army good/great as a starter to 40K

With Blood Angels you wanna go into close combat fast, so you want Tactical Squads in Rhinos and jump packs. As the Blood Angel's vehicles have a turbo engine, they give you great protection and speed, especially since tanks will be tougher in the upcoming 5th edition.

The core of my Blood Angels army is:

2 Tactical Squads (10 Marines) with a Rhino transport each
1 Tactical Squad (5 Marines) with a Rhino. The remaining 5 slots in the Rhino can be used for character models or my Techmarine with his servitors.
1 Death Company (10 marines) with a Rhino or jump packs
2 Assault Squads with jump packs

The tanks and jump packs cost quite a bit of money, but they save you from crossing the battlefield on foot.

"Fear not and look up to the sky for salvation, for we have entered orbit."Blood Angels 2nd Grail Guard Company

nice to see a blood angels player agrees with most of my thoughts (I'm not a BA player), although i would listen to what Parcival has to say over me, due to him having experience with BA. If i was you i would try and find the old 'Angels of Death' codex, it was a joint codex between the Dark Angels and Blood Angels, and this will provide you with more background than both the current PDF codex and the one before that.